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Battlestar Galactica Season 2 by Bear McCreary
01/09/2006 . Source: Tomas L. Martin 
CD: LalaLand Records LLLCD 1049. 30 tracks - 79 minutes. Price: $16.95 (US), £ 9.99 UK- import. Buy Battlestar Galactica Season 2 in the USA - or Buy Battlestar Galactica Season 2 in the UK  check out website: www.lalalandrecords.com , www.scifi.com/battlestar and www.bearmccreary.com
I'm a big fan of the new 'Battlestar Galactica' series and as the new third season is underway with filming for an autumn release, the soundtrack of Season 2 has arrived to review. Like the previous season, this CD comprises the selection of composer Bear Mcreary's favourite tracks from the 20 episodes that wowed many SF fans over the last twelve months.
'Battlestar Galactica' is a gritty, realistic show that strives to avoid cheese and bombast wherever possible, with a lot of episodes feeling more like a futuristic '24' than something related to the 1970s version or 'Star Trek'. There's a lot more subtlety and reliance on character-based episodes rather than pseudo-science. A group of terrorists taking hostages on one of the ships in the fleet is far more likely than a strange alien device turning up, for example.
Purely on a CD basis, this soundtrack suffers from that. Because the show itself is wary of the over-the-top sequences that 'Star Wars' or 'Stargate' might do, the music is somewhat less like the triumphant scores you'd find by John Williams and his ilk.
Bear McCreary uses a lot of Gaelic pipes, staccato military drumbeats and symphony strings, as in the first season's soundtrack. There's also new additions of a number of guitar-heavy tracks, some quite rocky and even some use of Indian tables and sitars.
The brooding tracks are very suited to the series and, when I was watching Season 2, I remember thinking how well it fitted thematically but in CD format I can't say it was particularly inspiring. This soundtrack is full of interesting, dark background music for when you're feeling in the mood but isn't something I'd regularly listen to. Although the music is good, it's very obviously better suited where it's designed to be, backing up the excellent acting and action of the series itself. True fans and completests might want to pick this up but everyone else should save their money for when the superb 'Battlestar Galactica' Season 2 is released on DVD.
Tomas L. Martin
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